Supporting the elite sprinter from the gym through to the competition arena

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Michael Johnston

Providing strength and conditioning support to the British athletics team requires the practitioner to constantly shift between being a coach and a scientist. This session will aim to highlight some of the work done over the course of the Rio cycle. Specifically, the session will explore the neuromuscular characteristics of elite sprinters, and how they differ from those observed in participants of other sports and events, and will also examine how the regular collection of these data have been used to direct the training of athletes in the British system. In addition, there will be a discussion of the wider role of the strength and conditioning coach in the run up to major championships, highlighting some of the work done in enhancing and recovering from competition.
BIOG: Dr Michael Johnston has spent over a decade working in elite and high performance sports working across Olympic, Paralympic and professional sports in the UK, and is currently employed as a strength and conditioning consultant for the British athletics team, where he also leads on monitoring and recovery strategies for the speed and power events. He has a PhD in sport science from Swansea University, where his thesis investigated the physiological, neuromuscular and hormonal responses to maximal speed training.